Margaret Ashmun (1875–1940)

Isabel Carleton returns to Jefferson after her summer adventures in Montana, chronicled in Isabel Carleton in the West, and settles down for another year at college in this fifth and final novel devoted to her story. Briefly dazzled by the attentions of the somewhat snobbish poetry-reading Bertram Dodge, Isabel begins to look with a more critical eye at Rodney's lack of interest in literature, until Dodge's true nature - he steals her poem and passes it off as his own - is revealed, and she realizes how silly she has been. Stephen Clark, the ranch boy the friends met in Montana, comes to Jefferson and is befriended by the Carletons, forming a particular attachment to Fanny. Meta, in the meantime, prepares for her upcoming marriage to George Burnham, off working in the west, and the novel concludes with their wedding, held at the Carleton house, and with the long-expected engagement of Isabel and Rodney...

Much like its predecessors, I enjoyed Isabel Carleton at Home a great deal, finding the story engaging and the main character sympathetic. Although prone to certain weaknesses - a tendency toward snobbery, and a certain rashness in forming judgments - Isabel has a good heart, and almost always comes round to a better way of thinking and acting, after some reflection. It's interesting to note that, despite her snobbery in some areas - her expressed wish, for instance, that the ring she created to sell and raise money for the Molly Ramsay Fund not go to someone "commonplace" - Isabel does enter into the Carleton family's interest in and feelings for their maids, who are depicted as full human beings in their own right, rather than as set pieces, or drudges who exist solely to serve the main characters. Here we see Melissy's developing relationship with the ice man, who eventually asks her to marry him, treated with sympathy in the narrative, and by Isabel. Although not a major theme, World War I does loom throughout the story, and there is a strong implication that both George and Rodney will soon be off to Europe. Despite that threat, the book (and series) ends happily, the engagement of our heroine. Recommended to anyone who has read and enjoyed the previous four books in the series.… (más)

Isabel Carleton heads to Montana with her college friend Meta Houston in this fourth novel devoted to her adventures, having an exciting time with them in Helena, and in their camp in the mountains. The girls' friends, Rodney Fox and George Burnham, are working nearby as engineers, and the four young people have many good times together. Isabel learns to ride a horse, Meta attempts to cook, and everyone enjoys the beauty around them. A friendship with the local mine manager's children, and with ranch boy Stephen Clark round out the experiences, and the book closes with the engagement of Meta and George...

Although every bit as enjoyable as its predecessors in some respects - I loved the beautiful descriptions of nature, and continue to think that Ashmun's exploration of her main character's inner growth is sensitively done - Isabel Carleton in the West was the low point of this five book series for me, and I could not take it wholly to heart, as I did the others. This was owing largely to the greater presence of prejudice and racism in the story, something that, although not unexpected in a book published in 1919, was quite disappointing after the more complex (albeit flawed) approach taken by author Margaret Ashmun in her earlier title, The Heart of Isabel Carleton. In that book Ashmun seemed to argue for the benefits of getting to know people of differing backgrounds as human beings, and although there was still a great deal of stereotyping involved (see my review of that title for a fuller analysis), it felt somewhat progressive for its time. Here however, we just have unthinking prejudice, as Isabel and her friends discuss the "greaser" (Mexican) and "dago" (Italian) mine workers, who apparently have more "volcanic" feeling than reason, inevitably leading to things like knife fights.

As someone who reads a great deal of vintage children's fare, I often encounter outdated social content, whether it concerns race, ethnicity, nationality or gender. This is to be expected - it would be highly unnatural for there not to be outdated content in a book published one hundred years ago! - and although it should definitely be examined and critiqued, it must to a certain extent be accepted in the context of its time, if one wants to get any value out of reading older works. That said, when an author seems to do better in some of her books, seems to have a more humane and rational approach to these issues in other titles published in the same period, it makes the difference more stark, and that proved to be the case here. I'd still recommend Isabel in the West to those who read and enjoyed the previous three installments of the series, but it was a less pleasurable read for me.… (más)

Isabel Carleton returns in this third novel devoted to her adventures, following upon Isabel Carleton's Year, which chronicled her senior year of high school, and The Heart of Isabel Carleton, which followed the eponymous heroine on her travels in Europe and through her first semester at college. Here we see Isabel fully immersed in life at the State University in Jefferson (a fictionalized Madison, WI), and now friends with Meta Houston, the somewhat brash western girl of whom she'd been somewhat jealous, in the preceding book. The story presents various episodes from Isabel's family and school life, concentrating on Isabel's growing friendship with Meta and her deepening relationship with Rodney Fox. There are moments of conflict - Isabel's quarrel with her sister Fanny, over the latter's violin sessions; Meta's initial refusal to accept her new step-mother - but also plenty of love and laughter. Alway, in the background, the shadow of WWI, already occurring over in Europe, grows larger. The book closes with an invitation for Isabel to spend the summer holidays with the Houstons in Montana, events chronicled in the subsequent title, Isabel Carleton in the West...

Much like its two predecessors, I enjoyed Isabel Carleton's Friends immensely. Margaret Ashmun writes well, and I appreciated both her description of the beauties of the natural world, and her sensitive depiction of the complexities of human relationships. Isabel is a flawed heroine, and she sometimes acts in haste - her anger at Bobo the cat, for knocking over a vase; her thoughtless words to Fanny, whom she sometimes teases in a careless manner - but eventually her good nature asserts itself, and she tries to make amends. This complexity is unusual in vintage girls' fiction - particularly girls' series fiction - where I often find that the heroine is a paragon. I also appreciate the realistic way that Isabel's grief at the death of her friend Molly, something which occurs at the end of Isabel Carleton's Year, is handled throughout the series. During the course of both The Heart of Isabel Carleton and Isabel Carleton's Friends, we follow her gradual healing process, as she moves from an inability to even look at the lake where the boating accident happened, or to discuss Molly, to a greater sense of peace, and a feeling of happiness at being able to work for the scholarship fund set up in Molly's name. The scene in which she describes to Rodney her feeling that Molly is now a part of all of the life around her, was very moving. Also of great appeal is the Carleton family circle, which is depicted as a close and loving one. Ashmun captures the warmth and happiness of their lives together, a bond that also includes Melissy the maid, and I loved the scene in which Melissy tells off Isabel and Fanny for quarreling.

All in all, this was a wonderfully engaging addition to the series, with an engrossing story and a mixture of humor and pathos that is sure to please readers who enjoyed the first two installments.… (más)

Opening in London, approximately one year on from the conclusion of Isabel Carleton's Year, this second of five books devoted to the adventures of the eponymous heroine is divided into two sections. The first chronicles Isabel's experiences in England with her Cousin Eunice (Mrs. Everard), the widowed relative who took her off on a European tour to help her get over the trauma of her best friend's death in a boating accident. Isabel's experiences at the pension in London - the German servant who forms an attachment to her, her friendship with the biracial (Franco-Indian) Doret family - and her trip into Kent to stay with a friend of her cousin's, all play out against the backdrop of the beginnings of World War I. When Isabel and Mrs. Everard are able to get passage home, they leave for America, accompanied by Herbert Barry, a countryman (and fellow Jeffersonian) they met on their travels. The second section of the book concerns Isabel's experiences back in America - her return to her home in Jefferson (based upon Madison, WI), her joyful reunion with her loving family, and her first semester at the State University where her father is a professor. The central dilemma facing her here is the changing nature of her relationship with longtime friend, Rodney Fox, and her move from girlhood into young womanhood...

Much like its predecessor, I greatly enjoyed The Heart of Isabel Carleton, which presented a fascinating mixture of outdated and surprisingly contemporary themes and ideas. Margaret Ashmun writes well - her descriptions are beautiful, her storytelling engrossing, her characters well-realized and sensitively depicted. I found Isabel a flawed but sympathetic heroine, and her enthusiasm and sincerity struck me as very American, in the best possible way. The scene in which she watches New York City draw near, thinking of it as a kind of 'New Jerusalem' toward which pilgrims were drawn, was very moving to me. So too were her reflections on America in general, a country that was, for all its faults, a "refuge, protector, mother, and creator of races; shrine of sacred purposes, conserver of liberty in a world of oppression; dispenser of the unsullied gifts of freedom and democracy." I suspect that many contemporary readers would wince at such passages, objecting to them as untrue, or perhaps even propagandistic, but for me they were a poignant reminder of the sense of purpose and pride that we Americans seem to have lost, as a nation. Paradoxically, without that sense of pride, without a belief in our own essential goodness as a people, I suspect we will remain unable to fulfill the full potential of our founding ideals. We need that belief now more than ever, to counter the political violence and cultural and historical vandalism that is becoming ever more prevalent around us.

I find that reading older children's books can open a window into earlier times and world-views, and this has certainly been the case here, not just in the author's approach to national self image, but also in her handling of the issues of racial and cultural diversity. As a character, Isabel is sometimes a little snobby, but is also frequently determined to be democratic. She feels she should befriend and be kind to all manner of people - in London, for instance, she and Cousin Eunice are the only ones to reach out to the biracial Doret family - but she still tends to stereotype people of other races and cultures, and it is questionable whether she considers them equals. Nowhere is this contradiction better exemplified than in the passage devoted to the various types of people found on the campus of a state university. The narrative describes the dizzying array of figures that make up the university community, and concludes that this diversity is one of the prime benefits of attending such an institution. In addition to the different types of student and instructor (country youths, athletic girls, older women studying for higher degrees, young professors wanting to appear solemn, etc.), specific mention is made of Chinese, Indian ("Hindoo"), Japanese, Filipino, Black ("negro"), and Russian Jewish students. Isabel herself declares, following this paragraph-long list, that "it's a great thing for me to come into contact with so many different kinds of people. I want to have the widest kind of human sympathy." This sounds quite progressive, until one considers the language used in describing some of these groups, from the "round-faced, yellow-skinned Chinamen" to the "eager Russian Jews, thirsting for knowledge and redolent of Socialism." Clearly, the sympathy that Isabel wants to cultivate only goes so far, in Ashmun's conception of it.

The Heart of Isabel Carleton was published in 1917, and set in 1914. Some of its content is quite dated by contemporary standards, and can be uncomfortable to read. On the other hand, some of it is quite progressive for its time, particularly in the world of vintage girls' fiction, which tended to be rather reactionary. One need only compare Ashmun's sympathetic treatment of the mixed-raced Doret children to the hysterical horror evinced by the characters in Jean K. Baird's Hester trilogy (1909-12), at the idea of the heroine possibly having some African ancestry, to see that this is so. For my own part, I think Ashmun had some good ideals - promoting a more democratic social sensibility, and the idea that knowing all different kinds of people makes us better human beings - but she didn't manage to transcend the prejudices of her time and place. I look at her work, and think how far we've come, and am grateful for the lesson. Recommended to anyone who has read and enjoyed Isabel Carleton's Year.… (más)